ORANGE PARK - St. Johns Country Day School girl's basketball got hot with three players landing key three-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Lady Spartans pulled away from a gritty Clay High squad to win 55-40 at the Orange Park High Martin Luther King, Jr., Invitational on Saturday.
In two other contests, Middleburg took a 59-37 loss to Bishop Snyder while Orange Park (9-6) got manhandled by University Christian (11-3) 55-30.
"We live and die by the sword of the three-pointers and we just got hot in that fourth quarter," said St. Johns coach Tyler Miller, who improved in his first season with Spartans to 13-4 overall. "It can be nerve-wracking when we are not hitting our outside shots, but we were able to hit the threes and open up the passing down low to Ashanti (center Ashanti Williams) for some layups."
With an anticipated three-point showdown between St. Johns' two gunslingers Mary Kate Kent and Kendall Proffitt and Clay's Teaghan Moses, the contest started slowly with both getting close, but ending up with more clunks than swishes.
"My girls were tough through most of the game and we wanted to stay close knowing they could get on a roll quickly," said Clay coach Doug Deters, who has turned a 3-20 slate from last year to an 11-6 mark this season. "When Aiyana (guard Aiyana Haynes) hit that buzzer-beater to end the third period with us just a point away, I thought that would swing the momentum for us. I think it kind of woke them up."
After Haynes' drive and toss over Proffitt got the game to 30-29 for the Spartans, Miller told his troops to keep shooting.
"When we shoot well outside, it opens up below and it started to click in the fourth," said Miller. "Ashanti is a good shooter in the paint and they had to come out to defend our outside shooting in that fourth quarter."
Clay, 46th in Class 5A, finishes with road trips to Palatka, Fleming Island and Middleburg in the upcoming week while St. Johns, 18th ranked in Class 2A and on a three-game win streak with wins over Bishop Snyder, Covenant School of Jacksonville and Clay, travels to Florida Deaf, then returns home to Duval Charter and 6A-
For Orange Park, after two weeks of a devastating flu that hit the entire team and even coach Michael Nesmith, the return to the court against the hard-running 2A-University Christian team was probably not the result the Lady Raiders needed.
"We went to South Carolina for a Christmas tournament and one of our kids got the flu then it hit everyone on the team," said Nesmith, noting a hard-fought loss to Virginia twice state champion Carroll County in South Carolina followed by a loss to Beachside in Florida a week later. "I'd like to have that Beachside game back because that game was 10 days after our trip to South Carolina and we were just worn out. I'll play them anywhere; in the parking lot if they want because that was not us."
Against University Christian, ranked eighth in Class 2A, the Lady Raiders had no foot speed to counter the Christians' swift court coverage of sister guards Alanna Tatum, the team's top scorer at 14.4 points per game, and Kennedi Tatum who stole and dealt all afternoon for the 55-30 win.
"I think we'll be healthy and ready when districts get here," said Nesmith.
For Middleburg, a six-game win streak screeched to a halt against Bishop Snyder as the Lady Broncos fell to 8-8 after turning a 3-7 start. Middleburg coach Lindsay Burghart, with a much-improved offensive attack, had wins over Matanzas, West Nassau, Keystone Heights, Impact Christian and Trinity Christian before falling to Snyder.
"After our loss to Florida Deaf, we discussed and spent time in practice focusing on end-of-game scenarios and this paid off big in a couple of our wins that came down to the buzzer," said Burghart. "The girls are finding a rhythm and playing for each other. Bishop Snyder is a talented team and even when we made a big run to cut it to six, they stayed calm and got the win."